Rikers death toll climbs after 39-year-old found dead
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Edgardo Mejias was pronounced dead on Rikers Island on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022. He became the 19th person to die in DOC custody or just after being released from it in 2022. AP file photo by Jeenah Moon
By Jacob Kaye
A 39-year-old man being held pre-trial on Rikers Island was found dead in the cell he was being held in on Sunday evening, the Department of Correction announced.
Edgardo Mejias, who was being held on first degree robbery charges, was pronounced dead at the city’s troubled jail complex around 5 p.m., on Sunday, Dec. 11.
Mejias is the 19th person to die while in DOC custody or just after being released from it this year and the 35th detainee to die dating back to the start of 2021.
The DOC counts Mejias death as the 17th in custody death in 2022. Two detainees have been kept off the DOC’s official death toll after they were both granted compassionate release by a judge not long before they died.
“Mr. Mejias’ passing fills our hearts with sadness, and we extend our heartfelt sympathies to all who held him dear as we recognize how hard it is to lose a loved one during the holidays,” said DOC Commissioner Louis Molina, who began his tenure as the head of the agency in January 2022.
“As with all deaths in custody, we will work with our sister agencies to ensure that this matter is thoroughly and completely investigated,” Molina added.
Mejias was being held in the Anna M. Kross Center, and first entered Rikers on Oct. 2, 2022. He was being held on a $15,000 bond and $10,000 cash bail after he allegedly shoplifted perfume from a retail store in Manhattan.
The 39-year-old detainee was being held in the same facility where Gilberto Garcia, a 26-year-old man, died in October, marking the 18th detainee death of the year.
Though the DOC did not report Mejias' cause of death, the Daily News and other outlets reported that he died of a suspected overdose. The man was found unresponsive by several of his fellow detainees, who reported the situation to correctional officers, according to the News.
If confirmed to have died of an overdose, Mejias would become potentially the 10th person to die of a drug overdose on the island in the past two years. There were four overdose deaths on Rikers Island in 2021, according to a report from the Board of Correction, the DOC’s oversight body.
Overdoses – fatal or otherwise – have been on the rise in the city’s jail complex in the past two years.
According to an October report from NY1, overdoses reached their highest levels in August 2021, the month when the DOC’s correctional officer staffing crisis reached its peak. There were 56 overdoses that month, compared to 19 in January of that year.
While the DOC, advocates and lawmakers agree that overdoses are on the rise, they disagree over the cause in the spike.
The DOC has told officials that it believes the drugs, particularly fentanyl, has been making its way into the jail complex through drug-soaked mail. DOC officials, including Molina, have told the BOC and City Councilmembers that detainees have received letters and books with pages soaked in the drug, and that they smoke the paper, often unaware of the dose of the drug.
In response, the DOC has attempted to roll out a new program to eliminate physical mail from the jail. Instead, the mail would be scanned and given to the detainees in a virtual format.
The plan has prompted widespread rebuke from advocates, who say the program brings up privacy and quality of life concerns.
The rules surrounding the program have yet to be defined. The DOC was scheduled to present the plan to the BOC for approval on Nov. 21 at the board’s monthly meeting, however the item was pushed back and will now be considered at the board’s next meeting in January.
Advocates and lawmakers have claimed that more so than the mail, drugs have entered the jail complex through correctional officers who have taken bribes to smuggle the drugs and other contraband behind bars.
A February 2022 report from THE CITY, found that seizures of banned drugs inside Rikers Island reached new peaks between April 2020 and May 2021, a time frame when visitors were banned from entering the complex due to the pandemic.
There were 2,600 seizures during that time, more than double the seizures recorded from April 2018 through May 2019, when visitation was allowed.
Several New York City correctional officers have been convicted of smuggling drugs and other contraband into Rikers Island in the past several years.
Last month, Patrick Legerme, a former correctional officer from Queens who pleaded guilty to smuggling charges, told a federal jury that he stuffed contraband into gym tights he wore to work under his uniform. In total, he collected over $10,000 in bribes before being arrested.
The DOC and its leadership has had a turbulent year. For a little over half the year, the threat of a federal receivership hung over the agency as a judge weighed whether or not the city was equipped to make improvements on Rikers Island.
In November, federal Judge Laura Swain denied a motion from the Legal Aid Society, which is representing a class of detained individuals, in which it called for Swain to institute a receiver – a judicial order that has the potential to strip the city’s powers over Rikers Island and install a federal authority to take over management of the jail.
Swain will again assess the city’s control over the jail in the spring.
“How many more people have to die in the custody of the Department of Correction before something is done?” Campaign Zero founder DeRay McKesson said in a statement issued after Mejias’ death was announced.
“As we all mourn Edgardo’s passing, we are reminded that the Court is allowing one of the deadliest years in the jails’ history,” McKesson added. “Judge Swain must appoint a federal receiver without delay so the crucial changes needed at Rikers can be made to prevent another tragedy.”
